Playing with the price... One of the roles of a real estate agent is to advise their vendors of a pricing strategy. There is nothing wrong with starting a little higher than comparable sales indicate, most agents will actually recommend this approach but you as a seller need to ascertain whether they are doing this to secure your business or they really believe it is achievable. (There are questions you can ask the agent to determine this)

Over pricing means underselling

If the agent over prices your property you'll end up underselling in the long run.

A typical scenario

The real estate agent suggests an asking price of $499,000 but is not forthcoming on what the actual sale price might be. The seller is happy with this their personal view was that $450,000 was a reasonable sale price.

The Buyers mindset

Let's put our buyers cap on and see what unfolds... you're looking at buying, you know you have finance approval for up to $450,000ish. You like the look and sound of a particular property and notice that it has just come on the market but is asking $499,950. That's $50,000 above your budget. Most buyers know that they can make an offer, but generally speaking, most feel that they cannot negotiate $50,000 from the asking price and consequently will more than likely move on and not even make an enquiry.

The seller is oblivious

The seller is oblivious to this situation, and as time passes starts to suffer frustration from apparent lack of interest, although some buyers are inspecting the property, there are no offers forthcoming. The agent gets stale loses enthusiasm and drive.

A Property does not go stale

A property does not gpo stale... an agent goes stale.

Here's the killer

As a sellers motivation starts to kick in and a sale becomes more urgent, you will experience pressure from the agent to 'meet the market' it is at this point that 99.9% of sellers find out the agents REAL opinion. In 99.9% of cases a massive price adjustment is suggested by the agent which will more than likely cause you to undersell.

Adjusting your price is an art and requires skill, competition and market knowledge... be careful who you listen to!

iREC- Your Real Estate Whistleblower >

If you are currently selling, or about to sell, and would like someone independent sitting on your shoulder observing the goings on, without interfering in the process, drop us a line and see how we can assist. We understand that you might have only dealt with agents once or twice in your lifetime but we do it every day! Contact iREC and see how we can help.